his abdomen when he was about twenty one years old. They removed it but not without difficulty. When they tried to operate adrenaline shot through my father’s body causing him to have tachycardia and later pancreatitis. It was a small hospital in rural Pennsylvania in 1993. They told my dad that they have never seen one in person. They have only read about these types of tumors that are called extra adrenal pheochromacytomas. They are extra adrenal glands that form throughout the body. I had a total of four adrenal glands in my body at one time. They didn’t know at the time that it was genetic, but they do now.
Now here comes the next step. According to the doctors statistic I am one in seven million people in the US who have this genetic mutation. In other words, not a whole lot is known about it, so what do they do with me? . What they did find out is that it is not metastasizing but they can later on in the tumor development, luckily mine was not at that phase yet. My family and I were of course happy to find out that they were benign. So, they thought the best solution was just to take them out. October third was surgery day, that day was pretty scary, if you can imagine. I woke up, coughing and struggling to breathe. Then, I decide to calm down and relax until they decided it was best to put me to sleep again. I woke up for the second time in the Intensive Care Unit to absolute quiet, the only noise I had for company was the beeping of all the medical machines. A nurse came in and she gave me the lowdown of how my pain medication works. Since I was in a lot of pain I was given two “cocktails” of pain medications.. After about another week in the hospital, I got the all clear to head home, under strict physical conditions. Which were, can’t lift anything over five pounds, no running or anything that causes perspiration. Those restrictions were for one month after a few days of bed rest.
The medical adventure was pretty much done. I was excited to get back to somewhat normalcy. In the end of all this, I have to go to Dana Farber Cancer institute in Boston every six months for tests. Which, overall I’m pretty happy with because it definitely could have been worse. I’m grateful for all of the support I received from my friends and family throughout everything. Even though the doctor said that chances are they will come back, maybe in the brain. I remain optimistic, I can’t afford not to be.
One day, I got a phone call it was the Make a Wish foundation. They told me I could have a wish. I couldn’t believe it. “My heart is racing” I exclaimed to my mother. “Well stop it, it’s not suppose to” she replied. I laughed with tears of joy running down my face. This experience was life changing for me. I always look at things with a positive outlook now because of my traumatic experience. Now, I get to have a little fun and relax and enjoy the life that I had. “So Ben, what’s your wish” The woman said softly over the phone. My family and I discussed it and Decided we wanted to go somewhere tropical. “Bahamas, I want to go to the Bahamas” I said. “Okay Ben, Have fun in the Bahamas”. I couldn’t understand what just happened, later that day we got a travel plan with everything paid for. The date was the first week of August, we got picked up in a limo to go to the airport...a limo. We stayed in the Atlantis Resort in the royal towers. I swam with dolphins, had amazing food and swam in the clearest water I have ever seen. I can easily say that was the best summer of my life.
Like I said, I love Summer. What’s not to love? I had my family by my side the whole time and we didn’t stop smiling for a whole week. What happened to me is something that will follow me around forever. So, I’ve come to realize, At the moment I’m well and I’m happy, might as well make the most of it.